On May 5, 2017, the second Steering committee meeting was held within the framework of EU/CoE joint projects “Promoting freedom, professionalism and pluralism of the media” and “Protecting internet freedom through legislation and arrangements for multi-stakeholders dialogue”. The meeting aimed at informing the beneficiaries of the progress in implementation of the projects and to discuss the work plan for the second half of 2017.

The Steering committee meeting was opened by Ms Ana Zec, Deputy Head of Council of Europe office in Georgia and by Ms Leila Marshania, Project Manager who welcomed the participants and presented the main goals of the meeting. The event was also attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.

Members of the Steering Committee are the main beneficiaries/partners of media and internet governance projects representing the state and private institutes such as the Georgian National Communications Commission, Mediachecker, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Transparency International Georgia, Charter of Journalistic Ethics, Media Development Foundation, Small and Medium Telecommunication Operator’s Association,  Internet Service Providers Association, Public Service Broadcaster, Personal Data Protection Inspector, Adjara Television and Radio Public Broadcaster.

The project presented the list of activities carried out after the first steering committee meeting and underlined the major achievements reached so far. Plans for 2017 were also discussed and suggestions were made by partners notably on the necessity to prepare reports on blocking and filtering of internet content, the strategic paper for further development of the institutional capacities of the charter of journalistic ethics as well as supporting the national operators to enhance the cooperation with the European colleagues, to ensure the better protection of consumer rights etc.

Projects plans for 2017 were endorsed and supported by all members of the committee. Both projects will arrive at their end by the end of the year and Ms Leila Marshania, Project Manager in Strasbourg, stated that the Council of Europe and the EU  will explore possibilities for continuation.